Actually the trees I have added are all on the other side of the house ootai. I am reluctant to plant trees by the pool due to constant leave debris that I would be fishing out of it constantly (unless palm or coconut). Pool location is love hate. You want sun but you want shade too. Striking that balance is part of the decision. In the pic I posted you can see I have 2 big Lumyai trees. I could part with one but we like them as they offer shade on the house and we love the birds that nest in them. However that side of the house is the morning sun and by noon the sun is over the house and then the shade hits that side very nicely.
As for being above ground there are really 2 considerations for it.
- The proposed location is in a low area on that side of the house and during rainy season water does tend to puddle there and I do not want to bring in loads of dirt to level it off.
- Having it up above ground by a meter allows me to build the deck around it and hide the plumbing underneath. I am trying to avoid pouring cement slabs everywhere because it just sucks in and holds too much heat and usually cracks at some point.
And yes I will likely over engineer it or at least put a lot of thought into it. I am in no hurry so that makes it fun. Plus its just my nature.